Philippine stocks fall after four-day rally

The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) retreated during the second session of the week, falling by 78.44 points, or 1.20 percent to 6,448.18, while the wider all-shares index decreased by 27.53 points, or 0.69 percent to 3,943.73.

Astro del Castillo, First Grade Finance managing director, said in a text message that the market just took a breather after several days of going up.

“Jitters in the global market started to taper off which resulted [in]renewed confidence in the market. Expect local market to consolidate below or around the 6,500 [-point] level,” he added.

According to Jun Calaycay, Accord Capital Equities Corp. analyst, except for economic data from the US and to some degree from Europe and Asia, leads continue to be positive from the domestic front.

“Inflation numbers, due to be released later in the week, should not pose a strong influence on trading unless it pulls a huge surprise—meaning the numbers go off the charts,” he said.

Calaycay added that early positioning for second quarter and first semester corporate numbers may drive selective purchase of top-line counters, particularly those that exhibited positive results through the first three months of the year.

“This should keep PSEi component counters and shares of industry leaders at the crosshairs and thus lend an upward bias to the index,” he added.

Meanwhile, all the sectoral indices Tuesday’s trading session in the red with the industrial sector posting the largest decline of 2.02 percent, or 198.46 points or 9,622.29.

The services counter fell hard by 1.87 percent, or 36.56 points to 1,914.48, followed by the property sector, which went down by 167 percent, or 42.93 points to end at 2,523.44. Financials, holding firms and mining and oil counters all ended flat.

The amount of shares traded was valued at P8.2 billion with losers, 77, beating the number of gainers, 71. Fifty shares were unchanged.

On Monday, bargain hunting pushed local stocks to a higher level, extending a winning streak for the fourth straight day.

The PSEi even gained further from a three-day rally in the previous week, rising 0.95 percent, or 61.34 points to close at 6,526.62. The wider all-shares index went up by 1 percent, or 39.22 points to 3,971.26.